A decade in the making, North Park’s mini-park celebrated its grand opening on Sunday, Jan. 16. Located along 29th Street and North Park Way, the $5-million pocket park is more like a plaza or square than a traditional park, with
a performance stage, a musical play area, seating areas with tables, chairs and benches, enhanced lighting, wayfinding pylons, bike racks, a drinking fountain, improved landscape and irrigation, and more.
Mayor Todd Gloria cut the ribbon on the new park, joined by Assemblyman Chris Ward, Toni Atkins, State Senate President Pro Tempore, City Councilman Stephen Whitburn, and Angela Landsberg, executive director of the North Park Main Street business association. Food trucks, a children’s music program and other live music followed the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The park was approved a decade ago as part of a North Park redevelopment district, and the City began soliciting construction bids in 2019. But when redevelopment unraveled statewide a few years later, the park plan fell into limbo.
At 21,780 square feet, this may seem like a small project but it’s not small for the community who kept this going, said Atkins, who was a San Diego City Council member representing North Park when the idea first surfaced in 2003.
The idea behind the park is to create a link between the area’s residential and commercial districts through a pedestrian plaza and tree-lined promenade near the historic North Park Theatre, now known as the Observatory.
Work remains to be done: the pedestrian promenade that would have connected the park to University Avenue was not built, mostly because of funding. Without it, there is no invitation to come down to the park from North Park’s commercial core.
Landsberg wants to see the linkage finished.
“I think it is a terrific start, but there’s a lot of work to do,” said Landsberg. “We have a new nonprofit— the North Park Business and Neighborhood Foundation—that is going to be working hard to program it, keep it activated, really draw attention to it.” The nonprofit will also help schedule events such as movie nights and farmers’ markets.
Last year, Mayor Todd Gloria began the “Parks for All of Us” initiative, updating the City’s Parks Master Plan to prioritize park improvements in park-deficient and historically underserved communities, and intended to help fund more projects like this in the future.
How landscape architects turned a parking lot into an urban plaza
After years in the making, North Park mini-park came to life in 2012 with the creation of the General Development Plan (GDP) which was led by the San Diego planning and design firm, MIG: Mukul Malhotra, Principal and lead designer; Andy Pendoley, community engagement lead; and Rick Barrett, urban design. The plan outlined the concepts for a large plaza-type space intended for gatherings, with areas for children’s play, picnics, and events.
In 2016, KTUA Planning and Landscape Architecture was awarded the project to prepare final design documents and to guide the construction of the park through a series of public meetings with the community and coordination with the City of San Diego, the Mayor’s office, North Park Planning Group, and the Business Association. KTUA Principal Chris Landgon and Project Manager Josef Gutierrez managed this project.
They had a vision: to create a common community gathering and event space for the North Park neighborhood.
They designed a place that could host special events such as small concerts, movie nights, fairs, and food-truck rallies, support the North Park Farmers’ Market and be able to provide the community with a passive, open space for everyday use.
They provided a unique identity and character to the park by including interactive features such as the Dynamo spinner, musical instruments, the North Park Monument wall, and a large open donor-paver plaza.
Other notable elements include a stage for gatherings and events, lots of assorted seating, and wayfinding pylons that light the way at night and, with tile at the base, tie in with the North Park sign on University Ave.
They included cool stuff for kids like a playground with interactive musical instruments, and a climbing play structure.
And, along North Park Way is a rain garden, which provides some greenery as well as stormwater storage and filtration.
They acknowledged donors using concrete unit pavers that feature laser-etched engravings that honor each donor’s involvement in the community.
The North Park urban plaza officially opened January 16, 2022, to a large gathering of supporters of all ages.
NOTE: All photos taken by Josef Gutierez of KTUA and Delle Willett, representing the American Society of Landscape Architects, San Diego chapter.
